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Terry Teachout on the arts in New York City

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Archives for August 10, 2018

Robert Sherwood returns

August 10, 2018 by Terry Teachout

In today’s Wall Street Journal drama column, I review an extremely rare Massachusetts revival of Robert Sherwood’s The Petrified Forest and the off-Broadway transfer of Be More Chill. Here’s an excerpt.

* * *

Few playwrights have fallen farther—or faster—than Robert Sherwood. His name was rarely missing from the marquées of Broadway in the Twenties and Thirties, and most of his hits, including “Abe Lincoln in Illinois,” “Idiot’s Delight” and “The Petrified Forest,” were turned into popular Hollywood movies. Then, in 1940, Sherwood went to Washington to write speeches for Franklin Roosevelt, and by the time he made it back to Broadway, tastes had changed and he’d lost his touch: He turned out nothing but flops and near-misses between 1946 and his death in 1955….

Now, very much to my surprise, the Berkshire Theatre Festival has exhumed “The Petrified Forest,” the 1935 stage thriller that made Humphrey Bogart a bad-guy star. What’s more, it’s presenting the play on its main stage in an expensive-looking production directed by David Auburn, the author of “Proof.” All this bespeaks considerable faith in the abilities of a forgotten playwright—and “The Petrified Forest” justifies that faith. It’s not merely stageworthy but excitingly immediate, and Mr. Auburn’s uncommonly well-cast staging enhances the pleasures of a play that is far more than a dusty period piece.

Set in the lunch room of the Black Mesa Filling Station and Bar-B-Q, a rundown roadside café somewhere in the deserts of Arizona, “The Petrified Forest” is a “Grand Hotel”-style ensemble piece that brings together a cast of disparate characters and puts them in a high-pressure situation. The plot is as uncomplicated as a slug from a .45: Duke Mantee (Jeremy Davidson), a hard-boiled heister on the lam, shows up at the café to hide from his pursuers, taking the occupants hostage. Among them are Gabby (Rebecca Brooksher), a disillusioned girl whose lost idealism has just been rekindled by the arrival of Alan Squier (David Adkins), a failed writer who longs in vain for a reason to live—or die.

Sherwood was, of course, the staunchest of New Deal liberals, and “The Petrified Forest” is not merely a thriller but a symbolic portrayal of the shaky state of Depression-era American morale, with Squier playing the part of the high-minded but ineffectual liberal intellectual who is galvanized by crisis into decisive action. The good news is that Sherwood never lets his politics overwhelm the plot….

The New York transfer of “Be More Chill,” the new high-school musical about an anxious teenage nerd (Will Roland) who stumbles across a science-fictional way of overcoming his nerdishness, has just sold out the remainder of its three-week off-Broadway run. Hence I’ll be brief: “Be More Chill” is a delight, a tale of social anxiety whose pop-rock score, written by Joe Iconis, is unfailingly lively and fresh. Stephen Brackett and Chase Brock, the director and choreographer, keep the pace brisk, and the cast, Stephanie Hsu in particular, is engaging without limit

* * *

Read the whole thing here.

David Auburn and the cast of The Petrified Forest talk about the play:

The original theatrical trailer for the 1936 film version of The Petrified Forest:

The trailer for the original Two River Theater Company 2015 production of Be More Chill:

Replay: Satchel Paige appears on I’ve Got a Secret

August 10, 2018 by Terry Teachout

TV CAMERALeroy “Satchel” Paige appears as the guest on I’ve Got a Secret. This episode was originally telecast by CBS on November 22, 1965. Steve Allen is the host and the panelists are Bill Cullen, Henry Morgan, Bess Myerson, and Betsy Palmer:

(This is the latest in a series of arts- and history-related videos that appear in this space each Monday, Wednesday, and Friday)

Almanac: Chekhov on persistence

August 10, 2018 by Terry Teachout

INK BOTTLE“Write, write, write! It is necessary. Even should the play fail, don’t let that discourage you. A failure will soon be forgotten, but a success, however slight, may be of vast service to the theatre.”

Anton Chekhov, letter to Maxim Gorky, September 8, 1900 (courtesy of Kathryn Jean Lopez)

Terry Teachout

Terry Teachout, who writes this blog, is the drama critic of The Wall Street Journal and the critic-at-large of Commentary. In addition to his Wall Street Journal drama column and his monthly essays … [Read More...]

About

About “About Last Night”

This is a blog about the arts in New York City and the rest of America, written by Terry Teachout. Terry is a critic, biographer, playwright, director, librettist, recovering musician, and inveterate blogger. In addition to theater, he writes here and elsewhere about all of the other arts--books, … [Read More...]

About My Plays and Opera Libretti

Billy and Me, my second play, received its world premiere on December 8, 2017, at Palm Beach Dramaworks in West Palm Beach, Fla. Satchmo at the Waldorf, my first play, closed off Broadway at the Westside Theatre on June 29, 2014, after 18 previews and 136 performances. That production was directed … [Read More...]

About My Podcast

Peter Marks, Elisabeth Vincentelli, and I are the panelists on “Three on the Aisle,” a bimonthly podcast from New York about theater in America. … [Read More...]

About My Books

My latest book is Duke: A Life of Duke Ellington, published in 2013 by Gotham Books in the U.S. and the Robson Press in England and now available in paperback. I have also written biographies of Louis Armstrong, George Balanchine, and H.L. Mencken, as well as a volume of my collected essays called A … [Read More...]

The Long Goodbye

To read all three installments of "The Long Goodbye," a multi-part posting about the experience of watching a parent die, go here. … [Read More...]

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